Thursday, March 17

10,000 more Syrians join ceasefire, part of an accelerating trend in the country

Don't look now but peace is breaking out all over Syria. Of course the bad guys are still fighting -- yesterday the Russian reconciliation center recorded 10ceasefire violations over the preceding 24 hours -- but they're finding their positions progressively harder to defend. Support for them, to the extent it wasn't coerced, is collapsing among Syrians. Nine Settlements in Syria's Hama Join Ceasefire Deal10:49 - 17.03.2016Sputnik

Nine settlements in the Syrian province of Hama have joined the ceasefire regime, the head of Russia's reconciliation group in Hama said Thursday.

AIN EL-BAD (Sputnik) — The signing of agreements took place in eastern suburbs of Hama and the Ain el-Bad settlement, through the mediation of the Latakia-based Russian center for reconciliation.

"Today, the event was attended by the elders, the leaders of tribal communities, they signed an agreement on nine settlements with a total population of about 10,000 people joining the reconciliation," Lt. Col. German Rudenko told reporters.

He explained that by signing the deal the elders agreed to cooperate with the Syrian government to assist the government in the peace talks.

Rudenko also added that a total of 38 settlements in Hama have sent applications to join the ceasefire, with another ten applications received during the week.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, as of Tuesday, a total of 51 local ceasefire agreements had been reached in Syria.

The Syrian government has confirmed its readiness to halt its military actions in accordance with the Russia-US agreement. Some opposition forces have been skeptical about the ceasefire, but in general have agreed to adhere to it.

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